Effects of Synoptic Surveillance on model forecasts for
04 September 2004 0000 UTC
Frances.


Quicktime movie of AVN DLM wind model forecast
Quicktime movie of DLM wind data increment


TRACK AND INTENSITY PERFORMANCE

TRACK (km)
MODEL12 h24 h36 h48 h60 h72 h84 h96 h108 h120 h
AVNN 56 37 56 30 78203 173258433555
AVNO 11 15 39 23 63161189244394423
%IMP80%59% 20%33%19%21%-9% 5% 9%24%
GFNO 67 35 73 68139233319452656 851
GFDL 39 15 52 74165281395503717 909
%IMP42% 51% 29%-9%-19%-21%-24%-11%-9%-7%
INTENSITY (kt)
MODEL12 h24 h36 h48 h60 h72 h84 h96 h108 h120 h
AVNN-31-23-24 -5-10 15 14 5 3 5
AVNO-16-16-20 1-12 10 8 3 -1 2
%IMP48%30%17%80%-23%33%43%40%67%60%
GFNO 10 15 12 34 22 36 31 22 12 18
GFDL 10 10 7 30 23 34 33 28 14 11
%IMP 0%33%42%12%-5% 6%-6%27%17%39%

Landfall forecasts

04/1000 UTC 26.6N 78.2W Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas 10.0 h into the forecast
MODELLATLONTIMEERRORLOCATION
AVNN26.5278.61 16.5 41.7Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas
AVNO26.6178.34 9.5 14.0Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas
%IMP 92% 66%
GFNO26.4178.81 16.5 64.2Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas
GFDL26.5978.45 13.5 24.9Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas
%IMP 46% 61%
05/0430 UTC 27.2N 80.2W South end of Hutchinson Island, FL 28.5 h into the forecast
MODELLATLONTIMEERRORLOCATION
AVNN26.8780.03 41.5 40.3Jupiter, FL
AVNO27.5580.36 31.5 42.0Fort Pierce, FL
%IMP 77% -4%
GFNO26.7680.02 27.5 52.0Riviera Beach, FL
GFDL27.1680.19 28.5 9.9Port St. Lucie, FL
%IMP 100% 81%
06/1800 UTC 30.1N 84.0W Mouth of Aucilla River, FL 66.0 h into the forecast
MODELLATLONTIMEERRORLOCATION
AVNN30.2385.92 80.5185.0Panama City, FL
AVNO29.5285.07 67.0121.6Cape San Blas, FL
%IMP 97% 34%
GFNO30.3387.46 77.0333.2Pensacola, FL
GFDL30.2687.92 75.0376.9Gulf Shores, AL
%IMP 22% -13%

Figure 1. NCEP 850 - 200 hPa mean wind analysis for 04 September 2004 0000 UTC (Hurricane Frances).

Figure 2. Track forecasts for the no dropwindsonde (NO or NN) and the all dropwindsonde (AL) runs for the AVN and GFDL models initialized on 04 September 2004 0000 UTC.

Figure 3. NCEP Global Ensemble Predction System track forecasts for all cyclones in the Atlantic basin initialized from 02 september 2004 0600 UTC to 03 September 2004 0000 UTC, showing the tracks of Hurricane Frances.

Figure 4. Ensemble perturbation variance at the nominal sampling time 04 September 2004 0000 UTC from the previous day NCEP ensemble forecast. The green circles represent the dropwindsonde locations.

Figure 5. Variance explained within the verification region (large red circle) for observations taken at the sampling time 04 September 2004 0000 UTC from the Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter run from the previous day NCEP ensemble forecast. The green circles represent the dropwindsonde locations.

Figure 6. Initial condition differences in the 850 - 200 hPa mean wind between the no and all dropwindsonde cases for 04 September 2004 0000 UTC. The circles represent the dropwindsonde locations.

Figure 7. 24-h forecast differences in the 850 - 200 hPa mean wind between the no and all dropwindsonde cases for 04 September 2004 0000 UTC.